


Brother from another world

by MeAndMyGaster



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), Big Brother Sans (Undertale), Family, Family Fluff, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swapfell Papyrus - Freeform, a little angst and hurt at the beginning, and everything is A-ok, hopefully my attempts at humor will be funny, just a smidge, sans is a loveable butt, swapfell - freeform, they're living on the Surface for a while, until
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-06-22 09:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15578382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeAndMyGaster/pseuds/MeAndMyGaster
Summary: The life on the Surface was good for the past nine years. Sans had everything he wanted - his coolest brother was happy, he had peace and quiet for the most of his day and had his own hot/cat dog stand in a nice corner of the park. He had abandoned working in the Lab along Alphys and hoped to never see that useless machine again.But...Hauling a terrified skeleton from behind the mysterious machine oozing bad magic wasn’t exactly what Sans imagined he would be doing this afternoon but what could a monster do?(Sans, being a loveable butt, gets a chance to be a big brother again. My attempt at writing a big bro Sans story with a lot of love for Swapfell Papyrus)





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter of my side project, everybody! Dunno how will it go and dunno how often will it be updated. It won't be something that will slow me down when writing Thunderstruck but this is something I wanted to write for a while.
> 
> Let me know how you like it!

 

It was a beautiful day outside. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming, and the sun was shining high above everybody’s heads, casting leaf-shaped shadows at the short skeleton monster’s skull.

Sans was comfortably seated at his hot dog stand somewhere near the less frequented park alley and he let out a content sigh as he watched a bunch of butterflies chase each other over the flower bed not so far from him. He still had maybe an hour or two before his shift ends and he was set on enjoying the peace and quiet of that moment. Not that he minded those moments where monsters and humans alike came to him to have a short chat and to purchase a hot dog. He liked his regular customers and was always curious to meet new ones, though there was something soothing with the way the world just went on its own way as he peacefully sat in his favorite spot in Ebott.

For this particular skeleton, life was _good_. Not perfect, as he could always use more visits from his coolest brother, but good nonetheless. With no cave ceiling over his head for over nine years, he still found a lot of pleasure in just sitting idly outside and observing all the wonders of the Surface from his stand. He still wasn’t in a hurry to explore all the sights and marvels this world had in store for him, especially not on a day like this.

He tilted his head back a little and closed his eye sockets just to soak in the feeling of the sun rays touching his face. The soft breeze wafted around him, moving the hot dog and flower-scented air towards his nose cavity and he allowed himself to take another deep breath.

The muffled buzzing of his phone that was stuffed deep into his pocket wasn’t enough to wake him up from the pre-nap state he was in. It was just a text, something he can answer later when the sun is much lower and it is time to go home. Or maybe even after that.

Sans folded his arms and prepped his chin on the soft gray sleeves of his hoodie. He stifled a yawn, not really eager to move his head that much at this point and readied himself for a well-deserved break. He did sell almost all of his dogs already so he could at least take a nap before the school next to the park finishes the last classes. He would need all the energy to serve the best monster hot dogs (and hot cats) to the loud and cheerful youth.

As he felt the soft grasps of sleep slowly pulling him into a peaceful slumber, his phone vibrated again, thwarting his honest attempt at defending his ‘lazybones’ title. A first frown of this day crept onto his relaxed face as he slowly pulled the device out of his pocket. He opened the cool flip phone he got from Papyrus and squinted a little to see the letters on the small screen.

 **Al:** I need you in the North Lab

 **Al:** NOW

Huh. That was a quite surprising and curious thing to receive from the yellow scientist herself. She knew very well that Sans wasn’t all too eager to rejoin her at work - he tried that a few years ago and decided to drop this line of profession again. He admired her stubbornness to get him back to work alongside her but this wasn’t the usual way Alphys addressed him when she tried that.

Before he had the time to type any question to her, his phone buzzed again. This time the screen displayed the caller’s ID, meaning the introvert scientist really needed his attention.

“Sup?”, he answered the phone after two more buzzes.

“ _Sans!_ ”, an urgent whisper of his ex-colleague reached his non-existent ears. “ _I n-need you in the Lab. Level f-f-five._ ”

The mention of this particular part of the North Lab was enough for the lazy skeleton to straighten up a little.

He quirked his brow bone. “Thought you dropped fiddlin’ with the machine, Al.”

“ _I did!_ ”, she huffed nervously into the receiver. “ _It’s… It’s not me. It wasn’t m-me._ ”

There was something odd in her voice that attracted Sans’ attention, especially when she was talking about that wardrobe sized contraption his old machine was. She did sound nervous but there was something more to it. Her stutter that usually resurfaced when she was unsure about her abilities was barely audible this time. Something interesting was afoot.

“Alright. I can be there in five.”, he said as he reached for the condiments that were standing next to him. “What’s goin’ on, Al?”

“ _Not… not now. It’s b-b-better to show than tell… I g-guess._ ”, her voice was still hushed. “ _Your old card should w-work. Hurry, Sans._ ”

He nodded while trying to close his stand properly. “Gotcha.”

After checking the lock on the small door where all the hot dog ingredients usually were stashed, he lazily walked the opposite way the park entrance was to find his favorite shortcut home.

The good thing about living in the same city for the past years was that he managed to learn every corner of it already. His late-night strolls paid off with that knowledge and he notoriously used it to be as energy-efficient as possible. Of course, his cool brother had a different opinion about this and urged him to be more active, but who was he kidding. There was room for only one perfection in this world.

As his feet lazily hit the pavement right in front of the apartment building he currently resided, he checked the clock and shuffled towards the elevator. He’s got time. Only sixteen minutes passed after all. The stars were in his favors today - the card was in the first drawer he looked in, stuffed between a stack of paid bills and a ton of used pens. With the spoil in his hand, he hurried to the lobby and outside.

The good thing about his previous work in the Lab was that he knew the shortest way there too. He felt a little odd while getting nearer to the big white building he thought he left for good. How long was it? Three years?

There weren’t many people around, especially with the newest wing opening on the other side of the building, so nobody paid him no mind. With a noncommittal shrug, Sans entered the Lab by swiping his old card on the scanner and quickly found his way to the 5th level.

He remembered how he used to do that three times a week - despite his love for science he wasn’t the one to spend too much of his free time on the Surface by hiding in the basement, away from the sunlight. It was safer for the equipment they had but being there quickly started to feel suffocating. And the machine…

As Sans shuffled down the long corridor leading to a not frequently used part of the Lab, he felt a tug of wistfulness on his soul. It was fun to work here, trying to find the way to make the machine do anything worth writing down or testing. His brother was excited to drop by here too - thinking of the problem like it was a puzzle to be solved. Too bad that after all the hours and days and weeks they all spent here nothing happened. Until today, so it seems.

He had to use his card again on the last door that separated him from his old workstation and it opened up with a soft hiss. As he walked around the corner towards the large room with desks, writing boards and some old computers disconnected from the sockets, his eye lights finally landed on the small and round shape of his former colleague.

Sans curiously stepped around the white sheet that was usually used to cover the machine but now was lying discarded on the floor. The wardrobe-shaped gadget with not yet uncovered purpose looked normal to him, standing in the corner of the room as usual. Except it wasn’t emptied out like he remembered. Somebody, probably Alphys herself, must have put everything back into the dark chassis before abandoning this fruitless project. With the corner of his eye socket, he saw how the yellow lizard waved at him urgently to come closer.

She was standing a good two meters from the machine, closer to its side, and evidently was trying to keep her eyes on the small space between the wall and the back part of the cuboid mystery.

“You took your t-time…”, she hissed at him as he walked closer.

He stopped right next to her and leaned to the side in a vain hope to see something behind the machine. “You kinda told me to get my card.”, he waved at her with the said thing and hid the ID card into his pocket. “What’s goin’ on, Al?”

He eyed her as she fumbled with her phone that probably had more gadgets inside than the whole Lab at once. She didn’t seem that scared. There was a clear nervousness laced with excitement in her moves though. Additionally, the way she kept trying to share her attention between the shadowed gap in front of her and the small skeleton was telling him that there was most certainly something odd happening.

“The machine w-w-worked. I didn’t do a-anything. Got a n-n-notification there was an activity h-here and…”, she smacked her phone a few times and a flashlight fell out of the dimensional box. As she turned it on, it illuminated the space between the machine and the Lab’s wall. “S-see for yourself.”

She handed him the flashlight and placed her slightly sweaty hand on his wrist to guide the light towards something hidden in the shadow. Sans had to move a little and lean to the side to properly see what she was talking about. As soon as the ray of light hit the deeper part of the gap, something in there shuffled and a loud clatter reverberated in the room. Almost as if something small and hard hit the back wall of the machine. A lot of small somethings, to be precise.

With a deeper frown on his face, Sans took a small step closer to take a better look. When his grip on the flashlight shifted a little he finally had a chance to see something he could recognize as a humanoid creature, wedged between the metal and concrete wall. The long-limbed person, thin as if they were made of sticks, was curled in the far corner of the room. The only thing that he could see clearly was a bare foot… of a skeleton.

Sans’ head snapped to the side to look at the yellow lizard that was standing next to him. His eye sockets were widened in surprise as he studied her excited smile.

“You see him too, r-right?”, she whispered. “I thought I c-c-could be seeing things… But there’s e-even a camera footage… he e-exited the machine.”

“Him?”, Sans turned his head again to look at the person hiding from their sight and directed the light a little higher in search of the mystery being’s face.

“A-a-at least I think so…”, she added while wringing her hands. “D-do you know what that m-means, Sans? S-some of our theories must h-have been correct.”

“Uh-huh…”, he hummed under his breath and took another step. He was close enough to place his hand on the side of the machine and felt the familiar unpleasant tingling he recognized as the residue magic the damned device used to ooze sometimes. “Hey there, buddy…? Wanna come out and talk to us, huh? Can’t be comfy in there...”, he spoke to the skeleton that was currently trying to move even further away.

“B-be careful! I-I tried to coax him out… he… he a-attacked me.”, Alphys warned.

Sans huffed. “That’s _not_ nice, pal.”, he chided and finally located where the trespasser’s face was.

The moment the light shone on the sharp features of the cowered skeleton, Sans almost dropped his flashlight. He needed both of his hands to catch it before it hit the ground but when it was in his grasp again, he didn’t dare to move again.

He must have been seeing things, for sure. There was no other explanation for what he saw. The longer he stared at the gap obscured by the shadow, the more his mind was racing in search of any hint that his eye lights stopped working correctly.

“What i-is it?”, the lizard scientist noticed his stillness and voiced her concerns in an alert tone.

“Shh…”, he shushed her and slowly lifted the flashlight up again.

There was no way he could not recognize those features but he had to double check before his mind starts jumping to conclusions. His soul was trembling in his chest as if it was trying to get free as his eye lights searched for the skeleton’s face. The hard edges of the cheekbones, the softer shapes of the brow bones, the jawline… all of it seemed the same but… but also different.

What the hell was going on?

That question echoed in his head as he caught another glimpse of the familiar face hidden behind a skeletal hand. The person cowering not so far from him, hiding from the light and Alphys, was… somebody who bore an uncanny resemblance to Papyrus. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t have been him. But those features were so obviously his brother’s Sans barely stopped himself from calling out his name.

“... Alright…”, the lazy skeleton’s voice was very soft as he shuffled as close to the gap as possible and reached out towards the unnerving doppelganger with his free hand, palm up. “Come out, bu-”

Only because his nerves were already on high alert, he managed to take his hand away before the blueish bones appeared out of thin air, separating him from the other skeleton. Because of the abrupt dodge he did, he took a step backwards and toppled on his coccyx.

“Sans!”, the lizard scientist shouted in worry but didn’t dare to come closer.

“I’m fine, Al.”, he shook his head. “Just startled, is all.”

The blue magic constructs blinked and dissipated as soon as Sans’ hand was out of the gap. He understood the message clearly - blue means stop. He remained on the floor, more on the eye level with the monster that was currently out of his sight, and stared into the shadow, thinking.

If the machine was what brought the strange visitor to them, there were many possibilities they should consider while dealing with this problem. They still weren’t able to figure out what was its exact purpose, not to mention managing to actually turn it on properly. It could be anything. A time machine, a door to another dimension, even a thing that made monsters out of the information, magic, and matter it gathered over time - like copies or clones.

“We h-have to get him o-out... “, Alphys interjected into his thoughts.

Those intriguing questions were bound to stay unanswered. For now.

“Yep.”, Sans agreed and slowly stood up with a tired huff. He was not built for that kind of exercise. He took a step towards the shadow between the machine and the wall and leaned closer again. “What you think, buddy? Wanna come out? Or are you stuck?”

The long limbs Sans saw thanks to his flashlight were pulled even closer to the curled up body. And here he thought there was no way the scared skeleton could get any further from their reach. He could swear he heard a very quick and nervous panting coming from the gap.

“I’ll take that as a no and no.”, Sans looked over the shoulder at Alphys. “That’s kinda not what I hoped for... “

She shrugged helplessly. “The m-machine is radiating m-magic again. It can’t b-be safe back there.”, she muttered.

“My thoughts exactly…”, the skeleton answered and turned his attention back to the trespasser, grimacing a little. “Alright… you gotta get out of there or we’re gonna have to drag you out.”

A panicked clatter of bone hitting the back wall of the machine wasn’t what he aimed to achieve but at least the situation was a little clearer to Sans. Seems like it was indeed fear that kept his brother’s doppelganger back there and the magic attack used against him was only to scare the ‘danger’ away. It looked weak and disappeared after a second without actually touching anything. Sans had a theory in mind that he aimed to test like a real scientist should.

By touching something he wasn’t supposed to touch.

“Al, go get a… rope or somethin’. Long and durable at least.”, he instructed as he lowered himself to his knees close to the gap and tried to reach towards the bare skeleton foot again.

As he predicted, another blue bone appeared out of thin air, barring him from the long-limbed skeleton. The magic disappeared as fast as it was summoned and the ragged and quick breathing was clearly audible from where Sans was. This, and the fact that this manifestation had little to no magic aura beforehand, could be due to the machine’s own magical residue filling the air in front of him or… the monster hiding there was already running on fumes.

At the same time, Alphys was rummaging through her many dimensional boxes in her phone in search for, as Sans hoped, something rope-like that could be used to literally drag the skeleton out of his hiding spot. She muttered something under her breath as she threw some other things on the floor during that process.

“Easy there, buddy. We ain’t gonna hurt you.”, Sans reached out again. “Come out, okay? Don't keep us in the dark.”

After the third try, he was certain that the other skeleton wasn’t buying that. At least now he was sure that the guy wearing a face similar to his brother wasn’t any danger for them. If he was, he had a few chances to at least knock him out. Alphys had spent at least half an hour with him alone here and there was not even a scratch on her too.

Hauling a terrified skeleton from behind the mysterious machine oozing bad magic wasn’t exactly what Sans imagined he would be doing this afternoon but what could a monster do? Especially when said skeleton had his brother’s face and was terrified of two absolutely non-threatening monsters like himself and Alphys.

“Got it.”, Alphys finally stopped searching and came closer to his back with a soft clatter of the tiles under her long talons.

Sans peered into the shadowed gap again. “Last chance, buddy. It doesn’t have to look like this, honest. Just come out nice and slow and we’re good.”, he warned him in his usual, carefree tone.

He waited for a few seconds but with no answer from the stuck monster. The small skeleton let out a deep sigh and reached behind himself to Alphys while his eye lights were glued to the long foot he saw in the flashlight’s ray. As he felt a thick wire in his hand he wondered how to use it on the trespasser to make the whole procedure quick and painless for everybody in the room.

Sans really didn’t want to use his magic on the poor monster’s soul, not unless absolutely necessary. The doppelganger wasn’t hostile, just non-cooperative. He couldn’t blame him for that, and doing anything that resembles aggressive action wasn’t the best way to greet new pals.

“Here comes nothin’.”, he shrugged.

Just as his words rang in the air, he moved as fast as possible to grab the skeleton foot and pull it closer to himself. A surprised gasp followed by a panicked breathing and a lot of loud clattering was all that filled his non-existent ears for a moment. As soon as Sans could, he wrapped the end of the wire around the skeleton’s ankle and tied a knot.

“Pull!”, he ordered while throwing the rest of the trap towards the yellow lizard and did exactly what he said himself.

Alphys grabbed the wire with her sweaty hands and dug in her heels to help the skeleton drag the trespasser out in the open. He knew she was saying something during the ordeal, but the sound of bone hitting the metal chassis was almost deafening. Besides, he was too occupied with the sight of a long skeleton body thrashing on the floor, trying to get back into the safe space between the machine and the wall.

“Easy there, easy.”, Sans huffed as he saw the monster accidentally hit his head on the wall during that. “Shit.”

The whole procedure didn’t last long - with Alphys’ strength they managed to drag the other skeleton to the middle of the room in a matter of seconds. When Sans was sure there was no chance for his brother’s doppelganger to crawl back where he hid before, he let go of the wire. The yellow lizard stood her ground without him almost effortlessly, so he was free to try and pacify the panicked monster.

Carefully, Sans walked around the trespasser, avoiding getting accidentally hit or kicked, and stopped not far from his head. It was a little worrying that during all that time the other skeleton didn’t make any sound other than his bones rattling on the tiles and metal but that was a problem for later.

As he closed in to his head, Sans noticed the thrashing eased a little, so he took it as a good sign. He was, unsurprisingly, mistaken. But science had worse outcomes in the experiments than getting smacked on the face a few times, so he endured those in order to finally seize the skeleton’s wrists and pin them down to his heavily breathing chest.

“It’s alright. Easy, just chill…”, Sans huffed loudly, still feeling a slight throbbing on his cheekbone, and looked down on the captured monster’s face.

A very unpleasant shudder ran down his spine as he looked into those wide eye sockets filled with fear. It wouldn’t be that bad if the skeleton monster didn’t look like his brother. His younger, terrified, hurt brother. Only now Sans noticed there was a big and ugly scar running literally across the other skeleton’s face and one of the eye lights didn’t look that healthy.

“Shh… it’s ok. Really, just calm down.”, he repeated in a much softer tone, hoping this would work at least a little to still the monster. Dammit, the guy he held down looked so young to him. It could be because of his eye sockets, open so wide they almost took half of this skeleton’s skull. “Nobody’s hurtin’ you, kid.”

Finally, after what seemed to be ages, the other skeleton stopped fighting with him and remained still but stiff like a stone statue. His breathing was still quick and labored, as if he ran a marathon or fought for his life and there were thick sweat drops streaming down the scarred skull. Sans wasn’t feeling so well rested himself but he still had some strength in him to hold the guy down if need be.

“Enough…?”, he smiled at the terrified monster. “Cause I’ve had, really. You’re givin’ me a hell of a workout here, kid. How about we stop for now, huh?”

The two different eye lights were staring at him but seemed a little unfocused. And the bones of the wrists he kept holding were pretty warm for his standards. It was obvious the captured monster didn’t have much energy left in him.

“Should I t-tie the other l-leg?”, Alphys, who was still holding the wire tight in her claws, asked with uncertainty in her voice.

“No.”, Sans said quickly as he saw how those words affected the skeleton he held - he had to hold him down harder for a moment, even with utter lack of strength his captive displayed. After a second of thinking, he added. “Untie him.”

“... b-but what if he runs a-again?”, she clearly wasn’t happy with that idea.

“That’s on me, Al. I have a feelin’ our new pal doesn’t like bein’ in a bind.”, Sans winked at the other skeleton but that particular joke didn’t seem to be up his alley. At least he stopped fighting him for now and looked closer to passing out than running.

“Fine.”, she answered and after a few moments of rustling, he heard a familiar click of the dimensional box being opened. Meaning the wire was skeletonless and being put back where it belongs.

“So how about we have a little chat, kid?”, Sans shuffled on his knees closer to his brother’s unnerving doppelganger. He had to stop himself from trying to pull him onto his lap. That would be weird. He wasn’t his brother after all. “Wanna tell us how you got here?”

The other skeleton parted his teeth in a clear attempt of talking but no sound came out. Sans leaned closer, tilting his head to have a better shot at hearing him, but there was only a soft sound of tired breath that tried to form a word. When nothing more happened, Sans looked back at the captured monster’s face.

“Huh…”, the small skeleton straightened himself and slowly relaxed his grip.

The guy passed out. His body went limp and his head lolled to the side. His breathing was still labored but didn’t bear any sign of panic. With caution, Sans let his wrists go, but he didn’t move.

“What h-happened?”, Alphys walked closer to them, her feet clicking on the tiles again.

“He’s out.”, he stated nonchalantly. “Looks like my usual charm didn’t work this time.”

With a sigh, Sans looked up at his colleague. She looked back on him, her brow quirked a little.

“Welp. It seems like we have more workout ahead of us. Papyrus would be so proud.”, he chuckled and moved a little to position himself at the unconscious monster’s head. “I’ll grab the front, you take the legs.”

“W-wait. You wanna move him?”, she pointed at the trespasser. “He got here through the machine. We c-can’t just take him o-outside. He looks just l-l-like your brother.”

“Yeah, well. I can’t see him restin’ properly on the floor next to that either.”, he pointed at the machine with his chin and slid his hands under the other skeleton’s shoulders. “Besides, we still need to run tests on it, better keep him contained for now, yeah?”

“And then w-what?”, she said while leaning to grab the long skeleton legs under the knees.

Sans shrugged and stood up with a strained huff. Good thing this one wasn’t as heavy as Papyrus is now but it was still not comfortable to carry somebody this tall while being this short. Besides, it was still unnerving to him how similar to Papyrus this skeleton looked. The clone theory was still in his head when he rearranged his grip under the skeleton’s arms and felt his warm face touch his own hand. As if a clone thing wasn’t enough, he _had_ to have a fever. Good thing Sans had his fair share of experience with both weird scientific shenanigans and normal health issues.

“I guess you wanna report that to Fluffybuns?”, he said, his tone a little distracted.

Alphys scoffed. “I have to. Y-you know that.”

Sans hummed as he had to stop next to the door and punch the ‘open’ button with his elbow. He almost dropped that part of the skeleton’s body he was carrying but continued as if that never happened.

“Can I ask you for a favor, Al?”, he tried to focus on not falling on his coccyx while leading the way to the isolation ward they had on level 4th.

“Depends…”, she answered warily.

Sans gave her a wide and innocent grin. “Come on, Al. You know me. Nothin’ but good behavior.”

Alphys rolled her eyes.

They took the elevator to the higher floor and there managed to find an empty room without attracting anybody’s attention. Almost as if they were on a mission or something, perfect timing. It reminded him of a music tune he heard in one of the human action movies. Sans thought this was actually hilarious if one forgets that he held his brother’s doppelganger's body in his arms. They snuck between floors with a clone or an interdimensional visitor in a facility that employed at least a hundred monsters and a little fewer humans. Seems like the new wing had everything except for the machine and work needed to be done.

“Stop h-humming that…”, the yellow lizard chided him.

“It’s a catchy tune, couldn’t help myself.”, Sans answered, which meant he had to stop. Shame. He was getting to the best part.

As they laid the tall skeleton on the mattress covered with a white sheet, Sans stopped at the head of the bed to look curiously at the monster’s features. Nope. No matter how he looked at him, he wasn’t his brother… but resembled him _so much_. Especially in his younger years.

“... about that favor.”, Sans muttered while inspecting the odd skeleton’s features and clothes.

He noticed a lot of small nicks and other scars on his bones, a lot of mended tears in the pink shirt and pants, pretty used up coat that would hang on him if he wasn’t lying here, unconscious. There were new sweat drops still forming on the surface of the skull, as his bones were still feverish.

“What?”, she was standing right next to him. He didn’t notice. Huh.

“I’m not tellin’ you to keep this to yourself, Al… but…”, he cocked his head a little while looking at the ugly scar on the monster’s face. “... can I have a talk with him before you do that?”

“C-c-curious, hm?”, she smiled a little.

“What can I say? Not every day I meet a spittin’ image of my bro.”, Sans turned his head to look at his colleague and returned the smile. “This could be good.”

“A-alright.”, Alphys nodded. “But you’re the one who’s going to watch him when I run the tests.”

“Aw, come on… that sounds like a skele-ton of work. My shift is over already.”, the small skeleton groaned in response.

The lizard scientist giggled and gave him a pat on the shoulder before leaving the room. Sans only huffed in mock-offense as she closed the door behind her. He located a chair standing by the wall and made himself comfortable.

Actually, sitting here and keeping an eye socket on this guy seemed more desirable to him than tampering with that blasted machine that brought them the new skeleton friend. He dropped working in the Lab for a reason - he wanted to feel more on the Surface now that he was free. He wanted to see more of his brother, his friends, his customers. This was… well, halfway what he wanted. He was still in the basement but at least he got to see a new face.

Heh. Good one.


	2. Bureaucracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paperwork is a thing on the Surface!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hell yeah, the second chapter is done! I'm very proud of how I wrote Asgore - he's a good Fluffybuns in here! And Sans' trail of many bad decisions starts!

It seemed like all the tests Alphys was going to run were going to take some time. Not that Sans was a stranger to sitting around and keeping an eye socket out on things - after all, half of his jobs in the Underground were just like that. However, he never had thought his sentry days would come back in any shape on the Surface.

Thanks to that, Sans had a chance to take a good look at the guy he personally dragged from behind the machine. Even now, unconscious or sleeping, the other skeleton seemed pretty young to him. Worn out, just like his slightly oversized clothes, but still younger than Papyrus.

Decided on making a much better second impression than the first one, Sans didn’t touch him or move him in any way since he and Alphys put the unresponsive skeleton on the bed in the ward. He figured that waking up in a strange place after an adventure like that could be even more unpleasant if he didn’t have his belongings on him, so the small skeleton resisted the urge to take his brother’s doppelganger's coat off. He didn’t want to make it worse than it already was. And looking at the other skeleton’s face he knew deep down that this was a good idea.

A calm time to actually stare at the scarred features allowed Sans to notice more differences between Papyrus and this young monster. Differences he missed at the beginning. But to his defense, it was quite hard to focus on such details when simultaneously struggling to keep the panicked skeleton from crawling back where they dragged him from.

The scar damaging the all too familiar face looked bad. _Very bad_. It was deep and uneven and it seemed that whatever made the wound took a small splinter of bone here and there with it. The most concerning part for Sans was that this monster’s eye light - the one that probably got hit too - looked very odd. Was the kid even able to _see_ with it?

There were also other things that made the skeleton’s features seem still like Papyrus’ but at the same very different. Smaller scars were easily noticeable in the pale light illuminating the room and the circles under the eye sockets were very uncharacteristic on Papyrus' face. His brother never seemed to be tired like that, even ever since he didn’t sleep almost at all. And those fangs…

Sans was the last one to judge somebody else’s fashion choices but golden fangs stuffed into the upper jaw bone just didn’t fit that face at all. And he was almost sure it was quite painful to even get them. He grit his teeth a little when his imagination provided him with a phantom feeling of somebody trying to pull out his own fangs. _Yikes_.

When his ex-colleague was busy registering how fast the magic levels radiating from the machine were fading, the skeleton occupied himself with his theories about the guest they had and other idle thoughts. He was aware that the lizard scientist would be able to eventually pinpoint the amount of magic the blasted contraption had when it was activated and did its thing and only then they… she… could move further with the tests. For now, there wasn’t much he could do in the small room with a simple bed, a not-so-big table and a single chair.

He was pleased that the lizard scientist kept him updated through short but excited messages. At least he wasn’t as bored and uncomfortable on the hard chair with something to distract him. Sans wondered whether he would be similarly thrilled if he was still giving a damn about the machine. Not that he wasn’t curious - he was very intrigued about that new development - but he honestly didn’t want to spend his energy on the old project he buried so long ago, twice.

It was late when Alphys brought him two cups of instant ramen noodles, one for him and one for the unconscious skeleton. Despite the hour, she was still buzzing with energy and immediately retreated level below to continue her tests and research, so Sans was left alone with a barely acceptable substitute of a late supper. He slurped the chemical noodle soup not bothering to be quiet while he rocked the chair slightly. He noticed his seat wasn’t as uncomfortable when he had at least one foot prepped on the table, so he remained in this position when the sleep claimed him.

He was startled awake when his feet slid from the table and he almost fell off the chair when it returned to its proper upright position. He thought he was quite smart moving the seat in front of the door, but the beating soul in his ribcage was a reminder that not all his ideas were that brilliant. Sans took a few breaths and noticed something was wrong with the room.

The other skeleton, not at all unconscious right now, was silently sitting on the edge of the bed, with both of his feet firmly planted on the floor. He looked as if he was ready to stand up and do… something.

Keeping his smile in place, Sans gave himself a few pats to the sternum to calm down.

“How’s your head?”, he asked and upon not receiving any answer, he added. “You banged it pretty hard back then. Sorry about that… you kinda left us with a very little _wriggle room_.”

He winked at the young monster hoping for some reaction. The joke maybe wasn’t actually funny when one remembered how they met but even a scowl would be better than nothing. Still, Sans didn’t give up.

“You wanna eat somethin’?”, he reached for the other ramen cup and motioned with it at the other skeleton. “Al made ramen. It’s a bit cold but I guess it’s still ok to eat.”

The only reaction he got was the unnervingly mismatched eye lights moving from his face to the soup he was holding in his right hand and then right back at him. The scarred skeleton still hadn’t spoken a word.

“No?”, Sans hummed.

Perhaps a little demonstration was in place?

He grabbed the chopsticks he used to eat his own portion with and pulled a mouthful of noodles out of the cup to eat some. “See? It’s safe to- _Ugh_ …”, the moment the taste reached him, Sans grimaced.

Stars, this was so much worse cold. No wonder he saw so many unfinished cups in the lab kitchen sink. Once forgotten and cooled down, the noodles were barely edible. What even is this brand?

“Or maybe not…”, Sans cleared his proverbial throat and put the cup aside with an offended look he cast at the brand’s logo. There went his metaphorical olive branch he hoped to use.

“Okay…”, with a sigh, Sans turned his attention back to the other skeleton and took those few short steps to be close enough to shake his hand. “Let’s start again. I’m Sans. Sans the Skeleton.”

A small frown appeared on the younger monster’s face, as he looked down at the smaller skeleton hand.

“Don’t leave me hangin'.”, Sans said in a more cheerful manner and took another step while waving his appendage enticingly.

His brother's doppelganger moved away a little from the hand and seemed to clutch the fabric of his coat a little tighter. A second later, the mismatched eye lights dropped their gaze to the floor and stayed that way.

Seemed like their odd guest wasn’t particularly touchy. Not that Sans blamed him, it was just another observation that he decided to keep in mind. He allowed his hand to freely fall to his hip and lazily stuffed it into his pockets.

“Alright.”, he relented. “What’s your name?”

After a few seconds Sans patiently gave him to respond, he finally got an answer.

“... Rus.”, the hoarse voice was very soft but the small skeleton didn’t have any trouble with hearing it.

“And he _can_ talk. Cool.”, the smaller skeleton’s grin widened a little. A nagging thought that this was a diminutive of a way more familiar name got pushed into the background. For the sake of the (hopefully) unfolding conversation. “We’re gettin' somewhere.”

Sans backed away from the bed and hovered with his butt over the chair only to drag the hard piece of furniture closer towards the other skeleton. With a loud screeching, the chair legs ground on the tiled floor as he carried out his plan. He noticed that “Rus” grimaced for a moment when the noise got a little more high-pitched, so Sans slowed down for the sake of the other’s comfort.

When the chair was in the right place by his standards - not far enough to have trouble hearing what his new pal would be saying but not close enough to make him too uncomfortable - he seated himself and propped his ankle on his knee.

“So…”, he began in an easy-going tone. “... wanna tell me what happened? Let’s start simple, kay? How d’you get here?”

The other skeleton’s mismatched eye lights clearly avoided looking back at him as Sans curiously observed the scarred face. It was odd to see his brother’s features being so… still. Subdued, maybe? It was hard to tell how expressive this particular monster was as Sans was quite used to Papyrus’ over the top behavior. To be honest, so far this guy was nothing like his brother. A complete opposite seemed like a proper description. He wasn’t talkative too.

After giving the young monster some time to find his voice again and answer those questions, Sans huffed tiredly. Not that he was losing his patience with the kid, on the contrary - he had plenty of it. He was just a little tired after a whole day of work and then most of the evening spent guarding somebody who might as well be his own brother’s clone or past self from some fucked-up dimension.

“Listen, kid.”, he said calmly and scratched himself on the brow bone. Did the other guy flinch a little or was it just his imagination? One thing was for sure, he had his full attention now. “I get it that the situation is shitty and confusin’. We’re confused too… but you gotta throw me a _bone_ , okay?”

Sans squinted a little while he searched for any reaction on the other skeleton’s face but found nothing. Seems like this guy either didn’t have a sense of humor or Sans needed to up his game when it comes to jokes. Maybe he heard too many skeleton ones and those weren’t funny anymore?

“Anythin’...?”, the smaller skeleton coaxed. At least now he knew the kid could talk, so he wouldn’t feel like an idiot for trying to make a mute monster speak.

Rus took in a slow breath before finally responding. “... where am I?”

Okay. To be fair it seemed like a good idea to ease some of this guy’s worries before bombarding him with questions. He did hurt his head not so long ago… maybe some sort of apology in form of information was in place.

“Fourth level of the North Lab, kid.”, Sans said lazily. “We’ve found you on level five. You fainted so we moved you here.”

He pointed at the bed the other skeleton was sitting on and for a brief moment, the mismatched eye lights followed that gesture.

“Al said you came out of the machine?”, the smaller skeleton tried asking again.

“… yes.” , Rus answered after a much shorter hesitation.

This was going quite well by Sans’ standards. “Great. How?”, he leaned forward a little, the curiosity getting the better of him.

The scarred skeleton’s brow bones moved a little as if in a barely noticeable frown. “… I don’t understand.”

With some amount of relief, Sans realized he would have less trouble not associating this particular face with his brother thanks to that voice. It was raspy and soft - or at least it sounded like that for now - and it was hard to imagine it being as loud as Papyrus’ could be.

“We couldn’t make it work or do anythin’ useful for years.”, Sans clarified. “How is it possible it worked now? I’m just curious.”

Rus began slowly picking at the material of his pants as he stared at his legs. “... I don’t know why your machine isn’t working. Mine is… was.”, he answered. “I think.”

This declaration made Sans smile lazily and he felt some of the tension of his shoulders disappear. Now that was something solid that could help him discard some theories and focus on other possibilities. If there was another machine, then a time traveler or interdimensional guest was probably closer to the truth than a magical clone that somehow gained tattered clothes in the process of being born out of nothing.

“Well, you’re here now and I didn’t see you around for the past years so I guess you’re right. Somethin' _worked_.”, he winked at the guest and leaned back.

Sans fished the phone out of his pocket and started typing a text to Alphys. He was aware that the guest was looking at him while he was occupied but didn’t mind that. It was only fair the kid got some time to stare at him as this was exactly what the smaller skeleton did for a big chunk of his unconsciousness. Besides showing Rus that he was at ease around him might be a good way to indicate this situation was uncommon but not dangerous. And... Sans didn’t feel like calling his ex-colleague.

 **Snas Uw@:** prolly interdim or time travel

 **Snas Uw@:** fluffy is a go

 **Al:** You have to be that lazy to call him Fluffy not Fluffybuns?

 **Snas Uw@:** half calls him fluffybuns half is still crushing hard

 **Al:** SHUTUP!!!  >.<

 **Al:** How is he?

 **Snas Uw@:** alive and talking

 **Snas Uw@:** not talkative tho

 **Al:** I’m calling Asgore then.

 **Al:** Can you watch him for a while longer? The tests are still running and I don’t want to miss anything. =@.@=

 **Snas Uw@:** sure

He still had some time before anybody outside of the Lab would arrive - and Sans had a feeling that Fluffybuns would be interested in seeing their guest personally. As he closed his flip phone and raised his head to look at Rus, he noticed that he wasn’t looking at him at all. The other skeleton’s gaze was somewhere on the bland beige wall on the left. His eye lights seemed a little hazy too.

“You ok there, kid?”, Sans frowned in worry. “Wanna rest some more?”

The other skeleton shook his head and grimaced a little. “… just a headache…”, he mumbled as he pressed his slender hand to the place where his scar ran across his nasal bone.

Sans felt a small pang of guilt poke at his soul at that short comment. He really didn’t mean for the panicked skeleton to hit his already cracked skull on the wall. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do to change this or even alleviate the pain - of the two skeletons in this world, healing was Papyrus’ strength while Sans could barely manage to patch up a scraped knee. If anybody allowed him to try, that is.

“Yeah… those walls are too hard for my taste too.”, he chuckled as he masked his concern with a smile. “Gotta tell Al to change that. It would make nappin’ against them a lotta comfier.”

There was no reaction whatsoever, again. Not that he was particularly hoping for anything, but… maybe the kid needed some more time? He was after all captured, hurt and confused and not all people reacted with nervous laughter and weird sense of humor to deal with stress.

Sans tapped on the seat under his own bony butt a few times. “You know… it’s obvious you’re not from around here. We still… Al is still gonna look into that but it may take time.”, Sans cocked his head a little while speaking. “So if you wanna go back, it’s kinda out of question. For now.”

When the younger monster gave him a nod, he continued.

“And we have to do somethin’ with you. Can’t keep you locked in here forever, you know? We probably won’t.”, the skeleton said in a reassuring tone.

That most certainly piqued Rus’ interest if the way his head jerked up and his mismatched eye lights focused on Sans’ face was any indication.

“… so… I’m free to go?”, he asked, his voice uncertain but a tad hopeful.

“Uh… not that easy, kid. I wanted to have a chat with you before the King gets informed about your situation.” There was something jarringly unpleasant in saying ‘no’ to those eyes - so familiar yet so different at the same time. And big, and scared...

Rus nodded again and looked away, his demeanor turning slightly more submissive again. Shit.

“Don’t worry.”, Sans leaned forward and was about to give him a pat on the knee but he thought better of it. It seemed he needed more time to hammer it to his skull that this was _not_ his baby brother. It wasn’t easy seeing this face being sad… well no. Not sad. Flat. Not-happy. Not-Papyrusy.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets instead. “He’s a nice guy, a real pushover sometimes... and you seem like a nice kid, Rus. It’ll be fine.”

* * *

 

The other skeleton wasn’t very talkative and had about zero initiative to ask his own questions, so Sans caught himself dozing off a few times despite being on the ‘guard duty’. He didn’t feel like trying to coax Rus into talking more than it was absolutely necessary. It was late and if the kid had a headache - he did seem like it - tiring him out before Fluffybuns had a chance to ask him anything would serve nobody.

As nothing noteworthy happened during the tests, Al didn’t text him until the King was in the building. It took a solid hour for him to arrive at the North Lab, which was quite fast given the ungodly hour. As Sans was told, he was already on his way to the room where both skeletons currently were.

With a tired groan, the small skeleton stood up and moved the chair away from the door, this time trying not to assault Rus with screeching sounds. He noticed that the other was already sitting more stiffly, probably alerted with his behavior.

“The King’s just arrived, kid. You ready?”, Sans asked in a tad sleepy tone and stifled a yawn. Stars, he would give a lot to be allowed to go to sleep right about now. A healthy and consistent sleeping schedule was already kicking him in the coccyx.

He didn’t think much of the fact that he got no answer from the young skeleton, apparently getting used to that particular trait. A slightly defensive way Rus held his shoulders up was all he needed to know about how ready he really was.

As he expected, the King politely knocked on the door and Sans must have been really tired not to try any ‘knock-knock’ joke on him right about now. But the thought crossed his mind.

“Howdy, Sans.”, the big boss monster rumbled in a low and warm voice as he squeezed himself through the door.

Asgore was wearing his casual clothes, though the skeleton could have sworn the t-shirt under his plaid jacket was inside out. Even without the royal armor that made him twice as wide, he was still a huge person that could easily tower over anybody, horns or not. Despite that, the air around the King of Monsters was less regal and more... homey?

Sans gave the King his usual lazy grin. “Sup, Fluffybuns. You come here often?”

“Apparently not enough.”, was the answer as the big monster focused his gentle gaze on the other skeleton that was still sitting like a stone statue on the bed. “You must be our guest. Rus, was it?”

Sans leaned on the wall right next to the door and directed his full attention at the younger monster. It was amusing to see how the big mismatched eyes got even bigger when the whole impact of the King’s presence finally reached a tired (and probably still aching) mind. Asgore had this effect on many people, with his big and menacing frame wrapped in many layers of softness.

After a delayed nod he received from the skeleton, the King extended his right hand towards Rus in a friendly gesture. “I am Asgore and I am very pleased to meet you, Rus.”, he spoke softly as he smiled.

The skeleton was probably too awestruck or still not that trusting to accept the hand but that didn’t affect Asgore’s demeanor in the slightest.

“I am not as adept as my scientist friends when it comes to technicalities regarding your origins...”, the big monster spoke as he slowly sat down on the chair. “... but no matter what they are, allow me to welcome you here on behalf of my people.”

A big and important guy like this sitting on a small chair like that was an amusing thing to see, so Sans had to stifle a chuckle not to disturb the conversation. He didn’t succeed as well as he thought because Asgore shot him a tired glance before focusing back on the scarred face of their guest.

After that official and heartfelt statement, Rus dropped his gaze to his knees. His frame seemed a little less tense than a while ago and his hands returned to picking at the edges of his sleeves.

Asgore gave the young monster some time to say anything. Not discouraged by the silence, he leaned back and continued as if it was a casual talk over a cup of tea.

“It may be too much to ask about the place you came from given the hour but it would help us greatly to know a little more about your circumstances. My friends told me you were... distressed when they found you.”

Rus answered with a stiff shrug of his shoulders. Even now, the guy seemed tense and not talkative. Sans, remembering that it took him a while to get any word out of the skeleton, decided to step in as casually as possible.

“It's quite confusin’ to enter your machine and exit somewhere entirely else.”, he said. “We get that, pal. No big deal.”

Asgore looked at him with the corner of his eye, the horizontal pupil considered Sans for a moment. “Indeed. You do not have to worry about that, Rus. It’s perfectly understandable to try and protect yourself in an unfamiliar place. I am just glad nobody got hurt in the process.”

Sans managed to keep his face as lazily smiling as usual.

“That said...”, the King clasped his big hands in front of his belly as he turned his attention back to the guest. “... I do not know what kind of world or time you come from but I assure you, we wish you no harm here. This situation is very unexpected for us and with the little information we have, we want to find a solution that would make everybody happy. It would be easier with your input, I am sure.”

A soft clicking of phalanges fiddling with the rims of sleeves filled the silence as both native monsters waited patiently for Rus to answer in any way. As a reward, they got a slightly deeper nod.

“Cool.”, Sans couldn’t help himself but comment.

“As I said before, I wouldn’t understand any explanations about how did you get here and I think doctor Alphys is already trying to figure it out on our end.”, the gentle rumbling of Asgore’s voice could lull to sleep anybody and the small skeleton found out that it was already working. Fortunately, the conversation was a bit too interesting to follow that tempting urge. “The only thing I am interested in is... why? Was it an experiment gone wrong, Rus? Do you remember what happened?”

The young monster opened and closed his jaw a few times, which was a clear indicator that he was at least planning to say something.

“... I was looking for a safe place. Through the machine.”, he explained.

“I see.”, Asgore murmured.

That wasn’t a surprising answer. The young skeleton looked as if he ran away from a very rough place and it was easy to believe he wanted to hide anywhere, even in another dimension or another time. Sans’ bone brows knit for a moment when he realized that Rus’ panic near that damned machine wasn’t caused by the new environment and unfamiliar people. Well... not only.

“Do you still wish to find a safe place here?”, the King’s deep voice interrupted the heavy silence and when the younger monster looked up with a surprise shining in his mismatched eye lights, he continued. “It may be quite unorthodox but without any other reasonable solutions, for the time being, I think we could grant you refuge here.”

Sans hummed at that idea. “Even if you wanna go home, it can take a while. And when I say ‘a while’ I mean days. Maybe weeks? Dunno how long Al would need to figure out how to reverse it. And we kinda can’t let you tamper with our... uh... well, stuff on our side.”

Rus kept looking from Asgore to the other monster, confusion slowly turning into something less frown-inducing.

“You’d be free to go, I guess.”, Sans explained and looked at the King in search for confirmation. “But here. On our ‘side’.”

“Yes. This is what I had in mind even before I got here. It is not every day when a new monster just appears out of nowhere but I have no issues with treating you as one of my own. Only if that is your wish, Rus.”, the King assured.

Before Sans had a chance to wonder what else could they do with the quite complicated situation of an interdimensional traveler if Rus refused, the young skeleton nodded a few times. “... yes.”, he added with the most eager tone Sans heard him use so far.

“Wonderful.”, Asgore clapped his big hands at that and smiled. “All of my people need to be registered and the whole process is honestly tedious... not something we want to do at this hour. Do you mind if we take care of some very basic paperwork now and take care of the rest in a better time?”

The small skeleton almost groaned but thankfully had enough energy to restrain himself. He couldn’t think about anything worse to do right now than filling out those long and utterly boring resettling forms every monster had to take care of and renew every time they changed their place of residence. With a very telling and exasperated sigh, Sans pinched his nasal bone slightly and bounced off the wall.

“Imma get some pen and paper for you two. Be right back.”, he muttered and quickly left the room to find those items.

Overall, the idea seemed good, Sans concluded as his tired mind finally stopped internally groaning about it. He understood why Fluffybuns chose this solution - being a King wasn’t easier on the Surface and having a new monster citizen required him to do as much as possible to protect him. Paperwork from hell included. Keeping the guy in isolation seemed horrible, even for safety reasons. Maybe it was a little naive to let him loose among other monsters but so far everything indicated that it would be best in the long run - both for the monster in question and their conscience. Too bad all the resettling centers had been closed for years, they would at least have some place to stay for him for the time being. Perhaps an inn would do?

He came back to the room only to find both monsters sitting in awkward silence. Sans handed the pen and paper to Fluffybuns and went back to leaning against the wall. He was sure he could just go home at this point but something still made him stay. Maybe it wasn’t smart to leave your own King alone with an interdimensional traveler that looked like an escapee from a war zone?

“So... like usual.”, Asgore used just one hand to move the small table closer to himself and shuffled a little to somehow accommodate his elbow on the narrow surface. “Rus the Skeleton?”, he guessed.

After an affirmative nod from the young skeleton, he continued. “And are you a male or was there a misunderstanding?”

“...male.”, Rus muttered.

“Good.”, satisfied with that, the big monster scribbled a few words on the paper and looked back at his ‘new citizen’. “And how old are you?”

The other didn’t even hesitate before answering, maybe also eager to get this over with. ”… sixteen.”

The King was already beginning to write something on the makeshift resettling form when he froze. The sudden pause between this and his next words was enough to make Rus cower a little.

“Sixteen?”, Asgore echoed.

There it was. No wonder that this face, despite the scar and other signs of weariness, looked that young to Sans. Rus was literally a kid, almost half his age.

“That… could make things complicated then.”, Sans interjected in the silence. Asgore shook his head.

“Don’t worry, little one.”, the big monster's tone got even softer. If there was a possibility to drown in somebody’s voice, the King of Monsters possessed that power. “It’s just a little more bureaucracy than we expected. I do not know how it is in your world, but in ours, being sixteen means you need to have a parent... or a guardian of some sorts.”

Seeing that this didn’t reassure the young monster even a little bit, the King continued. “I know for sure that there are a lot of monster families that would gladly take care of you until you mature... or until you decide to go home when the possibility arises.”

Rus nodded slowly while hiding his hands in the sleeves.

Sans’ mind, despite the hour and all the events of this day, quickly jumped to reassessing the situation. He was still extremely curious about the guest that arrived through the machine and he had a nagging feeling that both familiar looks and Rus’ name weren’t just coincidental. There was something more going on and the small skeleton wanted to know more if not everything.

The machine itself didn’t interest him that much, but a living skeleton that came from another dimension or time? And one who looked a lot like his own brother at that? That was something he’d love to investigate but any questions and probing might be obstructed if the kid was going to foster care. Especially if a said foster parent was more than overprotective... and Sans knew a fair share of them.

It was hard to say whether the idea that popped into his mind was a result of his inner giddy scientist that didn’t have a chance to properly experiment and research for a while or was it due to the tiredness he felt. Before any of his filters caught up on this, he acted.

“Fluffybuns, can I talk to you for a sec?”, Sans motioned at the door to the room.

With a small frown, the King of Monsters stood up. “As you wish.”

Because of his size, Asgore was first to leave the room by squeezing again through the door and huffing at the very end of that maneuver. Sans followed right behind him and was already closing the door.

“Wait!”, Rus called from the room before the door closed completely and made the other skeleton peek inside. That was the loudest he heard the young monster speak. He even got up from the bed.

“Yeah?”, he asked with his hand still on the doorknob.

The tall skeleton wrapped his arms around himself and looked away. “… leave the door open? Please?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.”, was Sans’ immediate response as he made another mental note about the new monster’s behavior.

He let go of the doorknob and walked after the King to join him a few meters away from the room. His own feet shuffled on the tiled floor a little louder as he stopped right beside him.

“I do have my own suspicions what you want to talk about, Sans.”, Asgore spoke up before the skeleton got the chance. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

His heavy gaze was getting a little too much for Sans to handle but he managed to casually stare back at him.

“Yep.”, Sans shrugged. “Kid’s a teen, so there’s not much actual _raising_ involved. And beside me and my bro... there aren’t many skeleton monsters around. Might be better for him if something goes wrong.”

The big monster shook his head in disbelief. “Out of the two of you, I never would have thought _you_ would be eager to do that. Though... he does look a lot like your brother.”, his tone turned a little warmer at the end.

Not that this ‘ _little_ ’ fact could slip by Asgore, who for some unfathomable reason remembered almost all his citizens’ faces and names, but Sans had this small hope the subject wouldn’t be brought up when he was about to follow the weirdest impulse he had in his life. He still had a lot of mixed feelings about this.

He chuckled to mask how weird this felt to him and shrugged again. “You got me, Fluffybuns. Can’t have somebody lookin’ like our family livin’ somewhere else.”

“I can understand that.”, the King nodded with a knowing smile on his face. “If you are certain this is the best way to go about it, I think the paperwork duty would fall on you, too.”

“... _Oh_.”, his face fell a little.

Asgore’s laugh echoed in the hallway as he gave the small skeleton a gentle pat on the back. “Welcome to my world, friend. Let’s head back and inform your charge about this.”

“Y-yeah... good idea.”, he mumbled under his breath and was the first one to move.

He didn’t enter the room this time, only pushed the door to open them wide. Asgore stopped in his tracks right in front of the doorframe and leaned down enough to peer inside.

“Rus?”, he addressed the young monster that was again sitting on the bed and motioned at the skeleton beside him. “Sans here offered to be your temporary guardian.”

The mismatched eye lights immediately shifted from the big monster that was blocking most of the door to the much smaller skeleton.

“Only if you’re up to it, kid.”, Sans assured when he realized a little too late that he didn’t even ask about that beforehand.

After a short moment, especially for this particular monster, Rus nodded.

“Then come on. We got you a place to crash.”

* * *

 

When all three of them - two skeleton monsters and the King himself - were leaving the North Lab’s corridors behind, the whole building was already empty and quiet. It was late enough some people, like Sans’ brother, might consider those hours as ‘early’. The building seemed abandoned and eerie, especially with barely enough lights to illuminate their way to the front door. Once outside, Asgore led them towards the parking lot where his huge car was.

Sans wasn’t following the King at that moment though. He focused solely on catching Rus’ reaction to the starry night sky above their heads. When the younger monster froze with his eye lights pointing up and jaw slightly open, he smiled wider.

“Heh. Yeah… forgot to mention.”, Sans lied, glad that this topic was never brought up around the new monster, allowing him to see the pure amazement on the scarred face. Something nobody could fake. “We’re on the Surface here. Welcome to my world, kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to hear your thoughts about this chapter so feel free to comment! Additionally, what are your favorite family time tropes?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> [Thunderstruck Edgelord](https://thunderstruck-edgelord.tumblr.com/) \- here's a blog for my main UT fic where I answer asks and post updates. Feel free to drop by regarding this fic too!


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